Steam-heating apparatus



(No Model.)

. F. TUDOR.

STEAM HEATING APPARATUS.

Patented Jan. 8, 1884 Wz'izzasses.

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UNHED States Patent @nrrct FREDERIO TUDOR, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

STEAM HEATING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 29;,818, dated January 8, 1884.

Application filed December 16, 1882.

To (all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, Fnnnnnrc TUDOR, of

'Boston, Suffolk county, Massachusetts, have at a low rate of heat by throttling down or partly choking off the steam, so as to admit only a reduced quantity to provide the desired amount of heat, as such a reduced pressure in any one radiator of the system would cause the water of condensation to back up therein from the returnpipe and fill the radiator therewith, thereby preventing the possibility of obtaining a reduced or regulated heat, and causing noisy and injurious water-hammering when the steam is again turned full on. The consequence, therefore, is that in the practical use of the ordinary system of radiators both steam and water valves must be opened full when heat is required, or shut oif altogether when the heat is no longer needed, and no intermediate regulation is in most cases practicable.

Now, the chief aim of my improvements is to obviate this defect and allow the steamvalve to be opened to any required degree on any one radiator to admit the desired amount of steam for any desired rate of heat without at all affecting the other radiators of the system or permitting the water to return into the radiator on which the pressure is thus reduced.

Another important feature of my improvement lies in means whereby the engineer, by simply increasing the steam-pressure in the boiler and steam-pipes, may cause the steam to be forced into the several radiators, to warm the building during the night or before or after office hours, without requiring to go to (No model.)

each radiator and manually open the steam? valves, as is now required.

To these ends the first feature of my invention lies in a certain arrangement of pipes and valves connecting the radiators with the main return-pipe; and the second feature lies in a steam-inlet valve or valves of peculiar construction between the radiators and the steanrpipe, whereby the steam may be shut on or off by the manipulation of the tenant, as may be desired, and may also be forced into the radiators at the will of the engineer, after all the manual valves are closed, by simply increasing the steam-pressure, as hereinafter fully set forth.

In the drawings annexed, Figure 1 is an elevation of a direct steam-heating system constructed with my improvements. Fig. 2 is a section of one of the check-valves in the return pipes. Fig. 3 is a section of one of the novel inlet-valves, and Fig. 4c is a section of a modified form thereof.

In the drawings, a indicates the floor of the basement or cellar of the building, in which the steam-boiler and other accessories of the ordinary steam-heating apparatus (not shown) are presumed to be located in the usual manner. Z) 0 (1 respectively indicate the first, second, and third floors, on each of which is shown a radiator, e, which may be of any suitable construction. ff indicate the main steam-pipe, which proceeds from the boiler or other source of steam and rises through the floors of the building, connecting by short branches g and valves 70 to one end or side of each of the radiators, as illustrated.

tindicates the return-pipe, which returns the water of condensation from the radiators and steam-pipes to the boiler. The base of the return-pipe may connect to a trap or directly to the bottom of the boiler, as will be understood. The return-pipe is provided with a throttle-valve, j, and the steam-pipe with a throttle, k, as shown.

So far as above described, the apparatus, as will be noted, involves only the ordinary system. By nowreferring to Fig. 1, however, it

will be readily seen that according to my innproveinent the return-pipe i does not connect directly to each radiator, but from the return side of each radiator 21 separate or short pipe, t, proceeds, and,extending downward parallel with the main return-pipe, connects with the same some distance below the said radiator say about ten feet. At the connection of the short pipes t with the main return-pipe z a check-valve,u, (see Fig. 2, )is interposed,which, as will be seen, opens in the direction of flow from theradiator into the main return-pipe, and. closes in the reverse direction. The pipes t which I may term the droppipes or "sealpipesthus extend from the radiator on one floor, and connect through the check-valves with the main pipe near the radiator on thenext floor below; hence the drop-pipes will have. a length equal to one story, which is on the average ten feetin height, and hence,when the radiators are in action, these drop-pipes will accumulate columns of water of condensation each ten feet high betw een its corresp nding radiator and its connection with the main returnpipe. Now, a column of water ten feet high represents a pressure of about. four pounds to the square inch, andthe pressure which it is desired to. maintain in a low-pressure steam-heating. apparatus of this kind varies from about three to fivepoundsper square inch. It will therefore be readily seen that when the apparatus shown in Fig. l is. in acti on with a pressure of, say, four pounds to the.

square inch, the water of condensation, from each radiator will accumulate in confined columnsv in. each of the droprpipest t, and when it has risen therein to a height to equal the steam-pressure or slightly exceed it the water will then freely ooze out through the checkvalves it against the steam-pressure intothe return-pipe i; but in no case can the water be forced backby the steam-pressure. from the return-pipe into the radiators, as the checkvalves will of course close against thebackpressure. Hence by this. means: the steam-. valve h. on anyone or number of. the. radiators may be opened to any desired. degree, from minimum to maximum, to admit any corresponding amount of steam to furnish a. reduced or full heat, as maybe required, and the radiator may be allowed to continue at ,thisrate all day, if desired; yet the water can neversurge back into the radiator, and there will exist no hammerfiand at thesametime the condensa tion from the radiator will surely flowinto the return as fast as it accumulatesabove a balancing-column in the pipes t, as will be readily understood, thereby securing a most important advantage in steam-heating--viz., enabling the heat to be regulated to any desired point in one radiator without affecting-the operation of the others, and withoutthe possibility of the backward surge of the condensation.

The check-valves u and steam-valvesh may be of any of the usual constructions, as will be understood. I prefer, however, to have the steam-valves h of special construction, as shown at H in Fig. 3, as this forms part of my invention; but no claim is made to this valve here, as it may form the subject-matter of a separate application. In this case,l indicates the induction-orifice of the valve, which of course connects to the steam-pipe, and m represents the eduction-orifice, which connects totheradiator. Thevalve-disknmaybeground to match with a ground seat, a, or may be faced with any of the existing flexible compositions. The operating screw-stem 0 is not connected rigidly to the valve-disk a, but has a limited play in its connection by reason of the headed end 0 of the stem engaging in a shouldered sleeve or yoke, 19, on the valve-disk, as shown. A strong spring, r, arranged as shown, tends constantly to seat the disk, and thus close the valve, as illustrated, and the pressure of this spring on the valve disk should exceed by an efficient margin the normal steam pressure used in the apparatus when run at low pressure-say five pounds to the square inchwhich steam-pressure will of course always tend to lift the valve, but normally will not be suflicient to do so. It will therefore be seen that in the position in which the valve is shown in Fig. 3 it is manually closed and the steam is entirely shut off from the radiator. If, however, the steam-pressure be increased considerably in the main pipes-say to eight or ten pounds per square inchthe increased pressure will then lift the valve against the stress of its spring, and thus allow the steam. to flow freely into the radiators; hence by this means the engineer can force a circulation of steam into the radiators all through. the building without requiring to go to each radiator and open its valves, as is now done; and in this way the building can be effectually warmed at night, or at hours when the occupants are absent, in a rapid manner and without labor or inconvenience, which will be of importance during sudden changes in the weather, and when sufficiently warmed the pressure can be allowed to fall, when the yielding valves will automatically close and the apparatus will return to its quiescent condition, as before. If the occupant of any room should not desire to have the steam turned on in his absence, he can then rigidly lock the steam-valve to its seat byscrewing down the stem fully, so as. to bear rig" idly on the valve-disk, as will be understood from Fig. 3, and hence this valve will not open when the pressure is increased in the main. It will of course be also understood that the tenant can manually open the valve to any deready described, so that the valve thus readi ly fulfills several conditions,as will be appreciated. An index-point, c, on the valve-cas ing, with graduations on the valve-stem, will show the position of the valve-disk and enable it to be set to any position desired.

Instead of having the yielding and manual valves combined in one, as in Fig. 3, they may be separate, but preferably inclosed in the same casing, as in Fig. at. In this modification the valve is formed with a double seat, I, as shown, one port of which is covered by the yielding valve disk n, which is constantly forced to its seat by the spring r with the same effect as in Fig. 3, while the other port is covered by the unyielding disk in, which is rigidly connected with the screw-stem of the hand-wheel w, and is thus operated by hand in the manner of any hand or manual valve,to manually control the flow of steam to the radiator, as may be desired.

The apparatus shown in Fig. l, as will be readily appreciated, is more especially de signed for low pressure, and its special ad vantage occurs when low pressure is used; but of course a high pressure may be used in the same apparatus whenever necessary, in case of very severe weather, without requiring any change and without any other objection than occurs with the present syste1nthat is, the objection ofinability to regulate or reduce the heat as desired in the radiators, but which is entirely obviated when low pressure is used. This inability to regulate or lower the heat, however, when high pressure is used occasionally in very severe weather will not be much of an objection, as a low or gradir ated heat is then seldom required; but the radiators are generally run at their full power, so that the apparatus is thus well adapted for both ordinary and unusual states of the weather.

It may be noted that it is not absolutely necessary to connect the drop or seal pipes t with the main returnpipes at a distance below the radiators through an interposed checkvalve in order to obtain the result which I have described, as the check-valves may be dispensed with and the drop-pipe may be made in the form of an elongated trap or U, having its discharging-leg opening freely into the return-pipe at a point some distance below the radiator, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. In this case the U-pipe will accumulate a balancing-column of water, as before, and will discharge the condensation freely into the return-pipe as fast as it accumulates above the balancing height, and this column interposed between the radiator and the steampressure in the return-pipe will of course prevent the condensation from being forced back into the radiator so long as the pressure of the column in the drop-pipes exceeds the pressure in the return-pipes, with substantially the same effect as with the construction first described. I prefer, however, the firstdescribed construction, as the single leg of the drop-pipes with their eheclevalves render the construction simpler, lighter, and more compact, and involve less piping, more directly; but either construction may be used without departing from the principle of my invention.

It will be readily understood that a weight, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, or weighted lever, might be substituted for the springs 7 on the yielding valve-disks; but the springs are of course much more desirable.

Such features as I may have shown but not claimed in this application I reserve for a future application.

hat I claim is- 1. In a steam-heating apparatus, the combination, with two or more radiators placed at different levels, a steamsupply pipe, and a pipe to return the water of condensation, common to all the radiators and extending vertically downward, of a short seal or trap pipe connecting the radiators with the said returirpipe, constructed and arranged to accumulate a col umn of water of condensation to equal or nearly equal the steam-pressure used in the apparatus. substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. Ina steanrheating apparatus, the combination, with a series of radiators and pipes and valves to supply steam thereto, of a com mon pipe to return the water of condensation therefrom, with short seal-pipes proceeding down from the radiators, and connecting with the main return-pipe at a distance below the radiator corresponding to the height of a wa ter column which will balance the steampressure, with check-valves at their connection opening in the direction of flow from the radiator into the returirpipe, and closing in the reverse direction, substantiallyas and for the purpose set forth;

3. In a steam-heating apparatus,the combination, with a series of radiators placed on different levels or stories, of acoinmon steamsupply pipe, f, and controlling-valves h, connecting each radiator individually thereto, with a common return-pipe, i, and seal-pipes t, proceeding downward from the radiators near the floor of one story, and connecting with the returnpipe at or near the floor of the next story, with check-valves a at their connection, substantially as and for the purpose herein shown and described.

4. In asteanrheating apparatus, the combination, with one or more radiators, each connected with pipes to supply steam and re turn water of condensation, and provided with a manual valve or means for manually controlling the fiow of steam thereto, with a yielding valve in the connection between the steanrpipe and the radiator, normally forced to its seat by a spring with a force equal to or exceeding the normal steam pressure, but adapted to yield and permit the flow of steam into the radiator independently of the manual and act IOO device when the steanrpressure is increased I mit the flow of steam into the radiator when iLbOXG the normal pressure, substantially as the steam is increased above its normal pressand for the purpose set forth. ure, which valve is provided with means for 5. I11 a steam-heating apparatus, the com- I manually controlling the flow of steam when r bination, with one or more radiators, each I desired, substantially as described. connected with pipes to suppl r steam and rcturn water of condensation, 0 f a valve nor- FREDERIO TUDOR mally forced to its seat bya yielding pressure \Vitnesses:

with a force equal to or exceeding the normal JNO. E. GAVIN, IO steam-pressure, but adapted to yield and perl (Jr-ms. M. HIGGINS. 

